Terry from Franklin, Indiana, recalls a moment of confusion when she was working on a horse farm in south-central Pennsylvania. She asked a co-worker, “Are we going to let the stallions out today?” The co-worker responded, “No, they’re already in.”...
Donna in Redwood City, California, reports confusion in her workplace over the term confirming. If she gets an email that says Confirming the supplies will be delivered on Tuesday, she assumes that this means the sender is still in the process of...
June in Miami, Florida, says every time she hears the name of this show, she’s reminded of a story that involves the tradition of fruit-filled Easter buns in her native Jamaica. She’d put hers on a windowsill at work, but at some point when she left...
Fans of the popular British baking show know that you don’t want your many-layered cake to concertina, or “collapse like an accordion.” The verb concertina, in this sense, derives from the name of an accordion-like instrument. This is part of a...
A flashlight emits a steady beam of light. So what’s the flash part of that word about? Also, if you’re a nervous Nellie, you’re skittish and indecisive—both characteristics of an American politician who earned that nickname in the 1920s. And...
When you’re talking about the location of an inanimate object, is it okay to say that it lives there, as in The peanut butter lives in that cabinet or The flashlight lives on that shelf? Strictly speaking, of course, that object isn’t alive, but...
